Systems and methods for facilitating commercial transactions utilizing a system currency

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for facilitating commercial transactions between a plurality of associated parties utilizing a form of currency referred to herein as “system currency” which provides economic utility to all associated parties. The associated parties conducting commercial transactions may include one or more consumers, one or more vendors and one or more banks. The systems and methods for facilitation of commercial transactions may be embodied in a transaction facilitation system, which may comprise a computer network, a human-operated network, or another form of organization or network capable of providing the required functionality. A system transaction facilitator may be present for operating the transaction facilitation system.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A system for facilitating commercial transactions comprising:
 a facilitator component adapted to:
 monitor a consumer special account associated with the system for storing system currency for a consumer, and a vendor special account associated with the system for storing system currency for a vendor; and 
 facilitate transactions utilizing system currency, the transactions being one or more of:
 a first transaction in which the consumer deposits cash in the consumer special account and receives a first amount of system currency into the consumer special account; 
 a second transaction in which the consumer purchases goods and/or services at reduced cash prices from the vendor, and at least a portion of the system currency in the consumer special account is transferred to the vendor special account; and 
 a third transaction in which at least a portion of the system currency in the vendor special account is withdrawn from the vendor special account and used to obtain goods and/or services from another party associated with the system. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the facilitator component is further adapted to monitor a banker special account for storing system currency for a bank; and   the third transaction is a transaction in which the portion of system currency withdrawn from the vendor special account is deposited into the banker special account and the bank provides a favorable interest rate loan to the vendor.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein:
 the facilitator component is adapted to be operated by the bank.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the facilitator component is further adapted to facilitate trading of system currency between the consumer, the vendor and the bank.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 a consumer component having an interface for the consumer to conduct the first transaction and the second transaction;   a vendor component having an interface for the vendor to conduct the second transaction and the third transaction; and   a banking component having an interface for the bank to conduct the first transaction and the third transaction.   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein each of the facilitator component, the vendor component, the consumer component and the banking component are embodied as a computer system having processing units executing instructions enabling the functionality of each respective component. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the vendor component is adapted to permit the vendor to designate reduced cash prices for goods or services offered by the vendor. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the reduced cash prices may be decided at time of sale based on the request of the consumer and a weighted scale used to determine an amount of system currency required for the reduced cash prices. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the facilitator component enables a system transaction facilitator to retain a commission on transactions facilitated by the system. 
     
     
         10 . A method of facilitating commercial transactions comprising:
 monitoring a consumer special account for storing system currency for a consumer, and a vendor special account for storing system currency for a vendor;   facilitating a first transaction in which the consumer deposits cash into the consumer special account and receives a first amount of system currency into the consumer special account;   facilitating a second transaction the consumer purchases goods and/or services at a reduced cash price from the vendor, and at least a portion of the system currency in the consumer special account is transferred to the vendor special account; and   facilitating a third transaction between the vendor and the bank in which at least a portion of the system currency in the vendor special account is withdrawn from the vendor special account and used to obtain goods and/or services from another party associated with the system.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 monitoring a banker special account for storing system currency for a bank;   wherein the third transaction is a transaction in which the portion of system currency withdrawn from the vendor special account is deposited into the banker special account and the bank provides a favorable interest rate loan to the vendor.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising facilitating a banker redemption transaction in which the bank redeems system currency from the banker special account for cash from a system transaction facilitator. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the bank serves the functions of both a bank and a system transaction facilitator. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising extracting a commission from each transaction facilitated by the system. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising facilitating transactions for trading system currency between the consumer, the vendor and the bank. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising notifying the consumer of featured sales of goods and/or services. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 permitting sales of reduced cash price goods to be completed only if a minimum number of discounted goods or services are guaranteed to be sold, the minimum number being a number of reduced cash price goods or services that must be sold by a particular vendor for the vendor to realize a profit above what would have been realized had the reduced cash price good or service not been offered at a reduced cash price.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising determining a favorable loan interest rate to be offered by bank and a commission rate taken by bank such that the commission rate permits the bank to at least break even with respect to reduction in revenue caused by providing loans at the favorable loan interest rate. 
     
     
         19 . A system for facilitating commercial transactions comprising:
 a facilitator component adapted to facilitate:
 (a) deposit transactions in which a consumer deposits cash into a consumer special account associated with the system and receives a first amount of a system currency in the consumer special account; and 
 (b) purchase transactions in which the consumer purchases goods and/or services from a vendor associated with the system at a reduced cash price, and at least a portion of the system currency in the consumer special account is transferred to a vendor special account associated with the system. 
   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the facilitator component is further adapted to facilitate loan transactions between the vendor and a bank in which at least a portion of the system currency in the vendor special account is withdrawn in exchange for the vendor obtaining a loan from the bank at a favorable interest rate.